Full Metal Alchemist Fan Fiction

Snake

By Kraven Ergeist

The group made it across the French/German border without so much as a single fight breaking out between them, though Marta still didn't so much as give Edward the time of day. She regarded him with a cold kind of distrust that one gives an employer that they know is constantly watching them for anything they might interpret as treachery.

As for the gypsy girl, Marta had decided she was just along for the ride. She really didn't seem to buy into Edward's self-righteous beliefs. She was just there to make sure everyone was well fed. And as overt as she was in her affections towards the brat, Marta had lost her appetite on more than one occasion.

Alphonse, on the other hand, was a different matter. She was learning more about him each day. For one thing, while he was fiercely devoted towards his brother, and seemed to agree with his beliefs, Al had a much more realistic concept of what could and could not be done about it. Right off the bat, he had told her that his real name was Elric, not Heidrich as his photo ID claimed, which had surprised Marta a bit. It was the first thing she had noticed the group had done right, as far as being covert was concerned. Though she could tell he was still hiding some great shame, she couldn't deduce what it was. After all, he'd already admitting to trying to bring his mother back to life. Marta would have assumed he had turned to some hokey occult practice, but Al kept insisting he had only relied on "science," though he seemed to tiptoe around the term whenever he brought it up in relation to his past. And she was noticing that he was using the word "armor" as a metaphor in a lot of his explanations…

Tonight marked their first night in an actual hotel, and true to their word, Noah and Marta both got the only two beds that were offered, while the two young men spread their bedrolls on the floor. But before sleeping arrangements could be made, a much more important matter had to be addressed.

"What do you mean, I have to help pay for groceries?" Marta blurted when Ed explained the situation. "You guy's promised three meals a day. This money is mine!"

Ed grumbled crossing his arms – in this, he still looked like such a kid. "Listen lady, we don't have any money on hand right now. We can pay you back later, but right now, you're holding all our funds."

Al scratched his head. "And besides…do you really want to eat canned brunswager, again? I don't know about you, but I'd personally like some real food about now."

Marta blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Tough. You guys can stay here and eat your trail rations. If you're not going to meet your end of the bargain, then I'll go out and get myself my own food."

Both boys held out a hand to stop her from walking out of the hotel room, but it was Noah who got her to stop.

"Marta, be reasonable. You know how hard things are for everyone out there. You can look outside that window, and you'll see food lines that stretch for blocks on end. I don't know how things were run in your old group, but they had to have been reasonable enough to share resources with their comrades when food was scarce."

Marta turned on the gypsy girl, giving her a stern look. "First of all, you're not my comrades. And secondly, don't ever presume that you know a thing about how my group ran things. The way I was raised, only the strongest survived. Sure we looked out for each other, but we also didn't go easy one each other. We had to learn how to be tough, otherwise we wouldn't have made it."

Noah nodded, ceding but unperturbed. "You're right, we're not your comrades. We aren't nearly as strong as they were, Marta, not by a great margin. And as determined and hardy as we are, we can't live on gruel forever. But we are your fiends, and if you give us the chance, we'll prove to you that we can be relied on as friends…but only if we know that we can rely on you."

Marta pursed her lip, not angry, but clearly annoyed. In all truth, she had no objections in parting with a little of her cash to help feed Noah and Al. They were decent people and it wasn't like she was hurting for money.

But that Edward…

Marta pouted. "Dinner. That's it. After that, I want to start seeing some of that five hundred a day I was promised."

Al and Noah looked pleased, while Ed looked annoyed, but at the same time, like he knew that any more negotiating would lose this small victory. "That'll be easy. We'll reach Munich by day's end tomorrow. I'll make another transaction with my partner and you'll be repaid in full."

"Whatever," Marta snorted, turning to go. "Just don't expect anymore favor's from me."

xxxxx

The group made their way through crowds of desolate civilians, before they finally made it out of the ghetto where their hotel stood. The difference in environment was stifling, as suddenly, automobiles became much more prevalent in the streets, and street vendors sold fancy clothing, expensive jewelry, fine food and rich ale.

Ed, Al, Noah and Marta eventually wound up in one of the taverns that brewed some of the finest beer in Germany, or so they claimed. Noah wasn't terribly keen on the idea of introducing alcohol to the all too volatile group, but she was outvoted three to one, as the two brothers and the soldier girl hadn't had a decent drink in days.

"Barkeep! Another round!" Ed hollered, lifting his empty mug for the third time that night as Marta knocked back a pint of her own. Al was still on his second round, and was already feeling a little foggy. He looked down at the fair provided by the tavern keepers – a delectable selection of steaming bratwurst and knockwurst served with mustard and sauerkraut that absolutely rivaled the brunswager they had been eating on the trail. In truth, he had been a little nervous about how Marta would be after a few drinks – after all, she had almost killed his brother once before, and that had been when she'd been sober.

His fears were averted however, when he saw the two of them both red faced and carrying pints of ale, laughing along with one another as they both listened to an older man at the head of the table was telling them a story they would have never given credence to sans alcohol.

Al breathed a sigh of relief, and noticed Noah hadn't touched her mug, though she was digging into the meats with considerable fervor.

"Aren't you thirsty?" Al asked, blinking a few times to clear his vision.

Noah gave her pint a sour look. "Alcohol only serves to dull the senses. Common practice among Roma is to steer clear of any form of drink least we fall victim to thieves and predators."

Al couldn't think of a reason to deny her. The only reason he was drinking was to quench his thirst, and it was already having noticeable affects. Besides, with her gift of truth seeing, alcohol probably wasn't the best idea.

"The tavern must have something to drink besides beer," Al reasoned, looking around for the tavern keeper.

Noah shrugged. "I asked for water three times. The waiter barely spared me a glance." She tried to hide her displeasure, but Al had seen the look all too often to miss it. "It's because I'm Roma. People don't usually associate with us more than they need to. Don't worry. I'm used to it."

Al winced, and intent on remedying this situation, looked for his brother. He found him eventually – Ed and Marta had begun to sing along with a group of lederhosen-clad merchants, waving their mugs in the air.

"Nii-san…" Al barely managed to obtain his brother's attention. "Nii-san, I need to talk to you!"

Ed glanced down at him, cheeks red. "Put a lid on it, Al! We're teaching these folks how to dance!"

Al hesitated for a few seconds as he realized that his arm was linked with Marta's, who was preoccupied with downing her fourth (or was it fifth?) pint that evening.

"Nii-san…it's Noah," Al said in a lowered voice. "The tavern keeper won't even give her a glass of water because she's Roma."

That brought Ed back to the present. He unwrapped his arm from Marta's and stomped off towards the bar area where soon-to-be-less-confident looking bartender looked up to see what he wanted.

Al didn't get to prevent his brother from injuring the tavern keeper, or so much as bear witness, as her lack of a dance partner caused Marta to seize the next available arm – namely, his own – and start up another course of the jig that the old man (who had suddenly produced a mandolin) was playing. Two more middle-aged men produced a fiddle and flute, and soon, the entire tavern was filled with lively folk dancers, and Al, unwitting as he was, became engulfed in the fray.

The music and pounding of feet became a blur of noise that even drowned out Ed's creative usage of curse words as he swore at the tavern keeper who, despite having already poured the gypsy girl's glass, was still being verbally lashed within an inch of his life.

Al stopped fighting the rapid flow of the dancing crowd and instead found himself staring at Marta's smiling face. Her cheeks were flushed red, her eyes were closed in hysteria, and she seemed completely lost in the moment. She was a totally different person now, chipper and giddy, without a care in the world. She seemed so happy now, and it made Al feel good inside to know that despite all that's happened to her, despite how different she was from the woman he'd known, how much angrier…that she could still smile like this.

A few patrons got shoved and a few bottles shattered, and that was all it took for the lively and jolly song and dance routine to turn into an all-out brawl.

The fiddler, flutist and mandolin player acted like they didn't know anything was amiss (or maybe, to them, nothing was) and kept playing, all the while chairs were thrown and punches were flying, and the tavern keeper was throwing an absolute fit.

Suddenly, Al felt a fist connect with his face, and he tasted blood a split second before the floor suddenly came up and cracked him on the head. His vision became blurred for a second, but when his eyes stopped spinning, he could swear he saw Marta beating up patrons left and right.

Then he felt a pair of strong arms lift him on, and place him over their shoulders and then he felt the cold night air as he was carried out of the bar.

xxxxx

"What a nightmare…" Noah groaned as she followed behind Marta, each with their respective burdens. While it made perfect sense for the stronger of the two women (Marta) to be carrying the heavier of the two men (Ed), it was pretty clear to Noah that Marta would just as soon leave Ed to pay the tab. Though she seemed to have no problem carrying Al…

"What?" Marta smirked. "That was fun! Besides, we managed to sneak off without having to pay our tab. I'd call this a night well spent."

Noah huffed. "Still…both Ed and Al got hurt, and if you and I weren't so lucky, we could have too. Then who'd be left paying the tab?"

Ed had been halfway through his drunken rant with the tavern keeper when the brawl had broken out, and when the bartender had insisted on addressing this issue, Ed had protested. The result had been a bloodied nose.

"Hey, I can hold my own in a fight," Marta smirked, unperturbed. "It's not my fault you all are a bunch of pansies."

"Part of your job is to keep us safe from these kinds of situations," Noah pouted. "Not start them."

Marta just blew at the strand of her hair that dangled in front of her face. "Hey, I didn't start that fight. And if it hadn't been for me, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum here might have had more than a few bruises and a bloody nose."

Noah wanted to refute the blonde woman, but she couldn't. Truth be told, Noah had been hiding with an unconscious Edward below the table, searching for the safest way out for most of the fight. Marta had managed to clear a path for them to get clear before the local police could arrive to settle the matter.

"I suppose you're right…" Noah ceded, grudgingly. "Thank you."

Marta smiled contently, hiking the unconscious Alphonse over her shoulder.

They made it to the hotel room, and deposited their respective cargo onto the bedrolls on the floor. Without preamble, Marta dashed out the window, climbing the sill to the roof, leaving Noah to tend to the two boys.

Somewhat aggravated, Noah tucked the two boys in as best as she could, before changing out of her clothes. Exhausted and stressed out, she went to sleep, leaving Marta to fend for herself. The girl was obviously capable.

xxxxx

Marta showed up a few hours later, now twice as drunk, and twice as frustrated. After hitting three separate bars around town, it seemed the only thing men cared about around here was how long a girl's hair was! Apparently, she was too "tomboyish," whatever that meant. She had found herself quite a few rather eager looking young lads, before losing them to some saucy looking skank with locks down to their back and a skirt that barely concealed her thighs. One even had hair down to her hips.

Marta was tempted to cut Noah's hair short out of spite, but decided not to go through with the plan on grounds that she couldn't find Noah, much less her own feet, as she stumbled into the first bed she came across.

As luck would have it, that bed had belonged to Alphonse.

The boy was still too drunk for that much disturbance to wake him from unconsciousness, and Marta was too tired to get up and get into her own bed, and was feeling too tipsy to even care at this point. Maybe if he were awake, the boy would have even been a good fuck, at least until she managed to convince the sorry lads in this town what a real woman was made out of.

Her frustration still unrelenting, she wrapped her arms around the still being beside her. At least she could make the most out of the situation, and the boy was certainly warm. Maybe, one of these days, she'd test the waters with him. He certainly seemed fond of her, and he was a much better choice than that Edward fellow (though, in his defense, Ed was a much better drinking partner).

It was easy enough to tell that both boys were virgins. The way Ed danced around Noah's obvious flirtations, the way Alphonse pretended not to be flirting with her. In Ed's case, it was annoying as hell, but in Al's case…it was kind of cute…

She sighed as sleep began to take hold of her, pressing her body lithely against Al's.

It might be fun to break him in one of these days…

xxxxx

No one was happy that morning.

Noah had all but flung Al and Marta out of the bedroll when she saw the two of them snuggling under the covered.

"What in God's name do you think you're doing!?" she blared, waking Edward (and probably the whole floor) in the process.

Alphonse, for his part, just gritted his teeth in no small amount of pain as gravity suddenly kicked in, making his head spin. Between the amount of alcohol leaving his brain the hard way and the bruises and bumps lining his skull from the night before, he suddenly caught himself missing the days where he had just been a suit of armor. So when he saw the blonde girl lying in his bedroll, clad in little more than her undergarments, blinking sleepily up at him, he had no troubling believing that he was simply hallucinating.

"Noah, tell me we have some coffee brewing," Al said without concern. "I had more than I should have last night, and I'm seeing things."

"Hate to break it to you Al," mumbled Ed, as he stumbled to the toilet. "You're not seeing things."

It took a few seconds for Al to register the implications of what had just been said, when he turned to see Marta stretching languidly, the her bra strap hanging loosely on one shoulder.

"Hey there, handsome," she winked, unable to resist the urge to tease the boy. It wasn't the worst hangover she'd ever had.

"M-M-Marta!?" Al gaped, pointing stupidly at her. "Wh-what are you doing in my bed!?"

"You don't remember?" Marta chuckled in delight. "You were an absolute stallion."

Noah and Al just gaped red-faced as Marta casually got out of the bedroll, adjusted her undergarments, and began getting dressed.

"Alphonse Elric!" Noah blared, seizing the boy by the ear. "Just what did you and this woman do last night!?"

"I-I-I…" Al stammered, trying to remember exactly what went on.

"They didn't do anything," Ed stuck his head out of the bathroom with a toothbrush dangling from his mouth. "Marta just came in late last night and fell asleep in the wrong bed. She's just teasing him."

Marta crossed her arms. "Sure, spoil my fun…"

Noah gaped, flabbergasted, as she pointed at Marta. "You mean…you didn't…?"

Marta rolled her eyes. "Don't you think you would have heard us if we had? Besides, I never put out on a first date. And considering how quickly both of them got knocked out last night, I think it's pretty clear that neither of our two 'men' even qualify for the term."

Al felt a surge of relief hit him – yes, that explanation made much more sense. But he also felt…was he…disappointed, somehow?

"How…how did you know, Ed?" Noah asked, not trusting the woman to her word.

"Hello - genius here," Ed said, pointing to his temple. "Also, I was awake when she came stumbling in last night. What were you doing out at that hour, anyway?"

Marta shrugged. "Just out, looking for some fun. God knows you guys aren't any fun – can't even handle a few drinks!"

"Well, excuse me if we're not total party animals like you," Ed scowled.

Marta was about to retort, but Al caught her attention.

"So…nothing happened?"

Marta laughed, trying not to let his hurt look affect her. Was he hurt because she had teased him, or because they hadn't done anything after all?

"Why, would you have liked there to be?" Marta winked, suggestively. "If you ask me, you should at least be able to remember your first time. That's what makes it so special, you know?"

Al just blushed.

Before anything more could be said, Noah interposed herself. "Ok, that's quite enough you two. Let's get something to eat, and pack up. We're already late setting out as it is."

Al snapped to attention. "Yes ma'am!"

Marta laughed as Al bustled through their luggage to find their trail rations – at least the hotel room had a stove to heat some water in.

Noah flashed a protective look Marta's way. "Let's try not to make a habit out of this."

Marta snorted. "Just because you're not making any progress in your field doesn't mean I can't make any progress in mine."

Noah's eyes widened as Marta's full meaning came through to her, and she turned her head away, hiding her blush behind her hair. "Why must you be so shameless about it?"

Marta smiled. "Because there's nothing to be ashamed of. Why does a gypsy care so much about the opinion of others? I thought you'd be an expert at doing what you wanted without concern for the people around you."

Noah scowled. "Excuse me for wanted to change all that. Excuse me for wanting to live a decent life."

Marta crossed her arms, but had nothing to say to that, and looked away.

By now, Al had a pot of porridge boiling and was passing out bowls. Everyone sat down to eat in silence, although many looks were passed between them. Both Ed and Noah gave looks of reassurance to Al, and scowls of annoyance at Marta, who responded in kind to them. Al kept glancing nervously at Marta, still wondering at her meaning. And whenever Marta looked back at him, she would only wink, and send his emotions into further disarray.

Oh, but it was so fun to tease and torment the boy. And despite herself, she was starting to grow fond of him. Sure, he may not be a 'stallion' per se if they ever got around to that sort of thing, but who knew? It had been a while since someone looked at her with genuine care the way he did. The life of a soldier was a hard one, especially for women. Too many men were only interested in bodies, and there were many bodies that were more desirable than hers, she knew that much. Why Alphonse was so interested in her was still a mystery to her. And she was determined to find out.

One way or another.

xxxxx

To Be Continued…